Freedom from the fear of death
Paul closed the previous chapter with the sobering statement that sin at all times remains a factor in the life of a Christian. Sin, however, has been paid for by the innocent blood of Christ, our substitute. Because that sacrifice has earned the forgiveness of sins, Paul can optimistically continue his letter to the Romans with a “therefore.”
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
For believers in Christ there is no condemnation for sin because a force greater and stronger than sin has appeared on the scene. Through Jesus Christ “the law of the Spirit of life” set us free from “the law of sin and death.”
We are again confronted (twice in this verse) with the flexible word law (nomos). In both of these instances, the meaning of “control” will fit nicely. Using that meaning for nomos, we might paraphrase the sentence like this: Through Christ Jesus the control, or rule, of the Holy Spirit, who gives life, set me free from the control of sin that brings death.
How does sin bring death? Answer: by invoking God’s holy law. To the Corinthians, Paul wrote, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law” (1 Corinthians 15:56); he says in this letter to the Romans, “The wages of sin is death” (6:23).
But now Paul says he has been set free from the control of sin that brings death. How did this change come about? Not through the law, which sin calls upon to mete out the death penalty on sinners, but through the work of the Holy Spirit, who brings people to faith in Christ and thus gives them life.
Notice that we are now speaking of law as the expression of God’s holy will as revealed in the Bible. That is the sense in which Paul also uses it here in verse 3 when he says, “What the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man.”
The law is indeed powerful. It is the voice of God pointing out right from wrong, and it severely punishes those who disobey its commands. But despite its great power, in the final analysis the law is powerless to make people do what is right. The sinful nature people are born with has the awesome power to rebel against God and thumb its nose at his just demands. Man can break God’s law. Thus weakened by the sinful nature, the law could never bring mankind to true righteousness before God.
But what the law could not accomplish in our lives, God stepped in and did for us “by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.” God’s own Son took on human flesh so that he would be able to suffer and die as a sin offering. And what did that sacrifice accomplish? Paul uses the striking terminology that in Christ, God “condemned sin” in sinful man. Sin is always quick to accuse and condemn. After it has lured and enticed the sinner into committing wrong, sin hauls out the law and reads all the law’s condemnations to the guilty sinner. Sin is quick to condemn, but God turned the tables on sin. In Christ, God “condemned sin.” God tells accusing sin to be quiet. It no longer has any legitimate complaint against the sinner, because in Christ,
God’s gracious purpose has been accomplished. He sent his Son “in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us.” Christ’s holy and sinless life earned for us the righteousness we couldn’t attain, and his innocent death paid for every sin we would ever commit. Hence God now looks at us as righteous; sin no longer has any grounds for complaint against the believer. A just God can throw the case out of court because the righteous requirements of the law have been fully met in us.
But there is a second purpose God had in mind when he credited Christ’s righteousness to us, namely, that we would ever more fully become people “who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.” After all, the Spirit of life has set us free from the control of sin that leads to death.